best-off

adjective

ˈbest-ˈȯf 

: in the most comfortable or favorable economic circumstances

It's more than embarrassing for the senior U.S. senator from one of the poorest states to sponsor legislation that will assist a handful of the best-off families on earth.

—Pat Lynch, The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 8 June 2009

The best-off people take the voluntary accounts, and the low-income people don't.

—Tom Blackburn, The Palm Beach Post (Florida), 31 Jan. 2005

The next best-off group … averaged 2 cents more income in 2004 for each dollar they earned in 1979.

—David Cay Johnston, The New York Times, 28 Nov. 2006

Word History

First Known Use

1865, in the meaning defined above

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